One pile of rubbish removed while a second is still there
Fly-tipped rubbish still to be removed from Watery Gate
A HUGE fly-tip on a rural road has been removed - but another larger mess nearby is yet to be cleared up.
Officials have taken away a pile of rubbish strewn by the side of Bosworth Road, near Kirkby Mallory, at a cost of £1,600 to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.
But they are yet to remove two mounds of waste on Watery Gate Lane, near Earl Shilton, which have been there since late February.
A spokesperson for the council said: “Unfortunately we have been unable to remove the very large fly tip from Watery Gate yet, despite our best efforts.
“We worked with the Environment Agency to investigate who tipped this waste and their officers concluded their visits to the site to gather evidence in late March.
“We then arranged for the waste to be removed initially with the help of another council and subsequently using an external contractor on more than one occasion but unfortunately ongoing staff shortages and movement restrictions have stalled those efforts.”
The council has had to cut back on its waste services due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Bulky and garden waste collections have been suspended and many litter bins across the borough have been taken out of action.
The spokesperson added: “While we appreciate this is not ideal, maintaining our frontline services and the safety of our employees is our priority at this time so while we are making every effort to remove the tip, we would ask members of the public to bear with us at this challenging time.”
The two large piles of festering and burnt rubbish, thought to weigh around 40 tonnes, were dumped on the lane on the evening of Friday, February 28, before 10.10pm.
Photographer Graham Gittens came across the ugly mounds of waste when he was out visiting a regular location to get some pictures.
He said previously: “The disgusting piles appear to consist of compacted domestic refuse and based on the odour are already starting to decay.”
He added: “As the water here rises and falls with regularity I can only assume that as the weather continues to be variable there is a significant risk that these piles will be washed into flowing water, polluting whatever and wherever the watercourse runs.”
Watery Gate Lane is closed to vehicles as the road crosses a deep ford which was impassable to most cars and where many drivers have got stuck recently.
Gates are to be installed on
Watery Gate Lane in efforts to prevent drivers from trying to cross the flooded ford, after the fire service was called out 10 times between 2014 and 2018 to rescue stranded drivers and there were a string of incidents last year.
Officials said there have been many reports of fly tips since the Covid-19 cutbacks took effect.
Piles of rubbish have been dumped by an overflowing recycling point in Hinckley town centre and people have been dropping litter by out-of-use bins in the borough.
Barwell tip is among those closed across the county because of the coronavirus outbreak.